The Lion King Originally Had A Completely Different Plot & We Are Truly Shook

Timon and Pumbaa were instrumental in raising Simba after the tragic death of his father Mufasa in Walt Disney's The Lion King. Without them, Simba would have never adopted the carefree philosophy of hakuna matata, right? Not quite.

In this never-before-seen conversation between Matthew Broderick (the voice of adult Simba), Nathan Lane (Timon), and Disney Theatrical Group president Tom Schumacher, we learn that Simba was originally inspired by Ferris Bueller, the glib teen character played by Broderick in 1986's Ferris Bueller's Day Off. The footage was recovered from the cutting room floor for the The Lion King's Walt Disney Signature Collection release, out digitally August 15 and on Blu-ray August 29.

"The whole idea was that Simba didn't run off with Timon and Pumbaa," Schumacher explains in clip, exclusively on MTV News. "Scar was going to kill Simba the same time he kills Mufasa. He's holding Simba in his mouth, and he's about to break his neck. Everyone comes in and says, 'Oh my gosh, you saved him from the stampede!'"

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"The idea was [Simba] was going to grow up with Scar, and be the goof-off kid" he continues. "It was all supposed to be this... Ferris Bueller, goofing around, delightful scamp."

The story was eventually rewritten, but Broderick's casting thankfully stuck. While it's impossible to know what would have happened if Simba was raised by his evil uncle Scar, the lion cub ultimately did inherit some of Ferris Bueller's more mischievous traits. Just ask Zazu.